Personal audio devices, such as mobile/cellular telephones, cordless telephones, and other consumer audio devices, such as MP3 players and headphones or earbuds, are in widespread use. Performance of such devices with respect to intelligibility can be improved by providing noise canceling using a microphone to measure ambient acoustic events and then using signal processing to insert an anti-noise signal into the output of the device to cancel the ambient acoustic events. Because the acoustic environment around personal audio devices such as wireless telephones can change dramatically, depending on the sources of noise that are present and the position of the device itself, it is desirable to adapt the noise canceling to take into account such environmental changes. However, adaptive noise canceling circuits can be complex, consume additional power and can generate undesirable results under certain circumstances.
Therefore, it would be desirable to provide a personal audio device, including a wireless telephone, that provides noise cancellation in a variable acoustic environment.